The Geese (Have Gone Over The Water), Brighton

A nice pub on the trendy side of traditional halfway up, or down, a long steep hill.The single room wraps around the bar servery on the rear wall. There are three handpumps but all were in the process of being pulled through as I arrived. On keg was a mix of craft and Belgian beers along with some ordinary stuff. I had the Duvell Vedett Extra Ordinary IPA which was great and added interest to the overall day trip. I liked this pub and its general vibe a lot.

Official site of The Geese (Have Gone Over The Water) - thegeesebrighton.com

Official site of The Geese (Have Gone Over The Water) - thegeesebrighton.com

This is a compact backstreet pub in the student-friendly Hanover neighbourhood, which has very much been set-up to appeal to the student market. As others have mentioned, the pub was closed when we arrived and not due to open for some time, but the affable landlord must've seen our trembling lips and rushed out to let us in early which was a great touch. The room has scuffed floorboards and half panelled walls with uppers covered with wallpaper that has a map image on it. The servery is on the rear wall and has a nice traditional panelled counter contrasting with a fairly plain bar back with large blackboards listing wines and various special offers. Some deep bench seating runs around the front corner with a mix of low stools, chairs and canteen-style benches filling out the rest of the room, many of which have been liberally adorned with scatter cushions. Lots of bottles have been lined up along the top of the wall panels and various brewery posters and other old advertisements can be found doted around the place. Some pillars throughout the room break up an otherwise very basic rectangular room and these have been covered with a decent pump clip collection. A pretty good indie soundtrack played throughout our visit and I noticed a menu which seemed to major on bangers and mash, although no-one was eating whilst we were here. There were three beers on the bar - Butcombe Bitter, 360 pale and Gun Pale Ale plus a modest craft keg and bottled beer selection. I gave the 360 Pale a try and it was in pretty good condition. We enjoyed some good chat with the barman before the pub filled out a bit more and I got the impression that this was a welcoming place that could appeal to a broad range of customers beyond the obvious student targets. I enjoyed our visit here and given that I spent quite a bit of time here waiting for the rest of the crawl to catch up, regret not sampling more of the beer range. The friendly welcome, early opening and comfortable surrounds mark this out as one of the better pubs in this part of town and make it an essential addition to any Hanover crawl.

Situated on the lower slopes of east Brighton’s hilly Hanover district, this pub was originally called the Golden Cross, the somewhat daft current name adopted when, I know not. The interior is simple and unpretentious, part ochre-coloured t ‘n’ g panelled, bare boarded with some bench seating. There’s food, which comprises the likes of bangers ‘n’ mash as well as venison, wild boar, chorizo and Polish bigos – all very appealing, at least on paper, or blackboard in this instance. Ales: Butcombe Bitter, 360° Brewing Company’s Pale and Gun Brewery’s Pale Ale at £2.10 a half and nice. This is a very pleasant, friendly community local which is a must-visit on a crawl of this area.

This was one of my favourite pubs of the days crawl. I agree with BF as it is situated in a good position and stands out a mile on its corner pedestal. I also got an added bonus of an extremely good ale, which was Gun Brewery Pale Ale, which ticked all the boxes.